The environment that comprises the world, is far more complex than a first glance would say. Collisions, weather patterns, growing plant life, and rippling fur. Particles and growth. Complex systems abound in a living world.

Analysing Typhoons for Future UseNASA has unveiled a weather satellite capable of converting any typhoon into a 3D volumetric map in unprecedented detail, in real-time. These maps being extremely useful for both dedicated weather simulators and interactive 3D environments alike.

Hemisphere Lighting With Radiosity Maps
Rendering of lighting in outdoor scenes is a paramount concern. To truly be realistic, the light levels constantly vary, and the sun (or suns) are not usually even the primary lightsource! All that adds up to is a computational disaster, unless some way is found to render lightsoure data quickly, and easilly....

Realistic Supernovas thanks to Simulation RunsIt is always pleasant when a research simulation unveils data that can be used in all sorts of other simulations â€“ in addition to it's expected result. A new simulation on the formation of stellar novas, and the shapes they take, has provided just that.

Render Smoke And Fog Without Being A Computation Hog
Computer scientists from UC San Diego have developed a way to generate images like smoke-filled bars, foggy alleys and smog-choked cityscapes without the computational drag and slow speed of previous computer graphics methods.

Solar Landscapes Captured & AvailableNASA's STEREO probes have reached their optimal positions. The purpose? To create a continually changing, real-time map of the spherical star, more than detailed enough to use for terrain.

Water is one of the hardest things to recreate virtually. It is an incredibly dynamic substance. A liquid constantly flowing, rippling, responsive to change. Sometimes clear, holding particles in suspension, cascading over containers, freezing, heating, cascading down as rain.

From the ‘simple’ flame to great explosions, fire is a very computationally expensive phenomenon to simulate, and we are only just on the cusp of perfecting it.

GPUs: the next frontier in film
Technology and movie-making have always gone hand in hand but the latest breakthroughs are changing the very nature of the process. Those in the industry say that thanks to the role of graphics processing units (GPUs), the director's vision can be more fully realized.

Hemisphere Lighting With Radiosity Maps
Rendering of lighting in outdoor scenes is a paramount concern. To truly be realistic, the light levels constantly vary, and the sun (or suns) are not usually even the primary lightsource! All that adds up to is a computational disaster, unless some way is found to render lightsoure data quickly, and easilly....

Volumetric Rendering in Realtime
A brief but thorough multi-part article from Gamasutra, on creating volumetric rendering in real-time, for use in fog, fluid, and other effects, which correctly affect light at any point through them.